Wednesday, September 3, 2014

WCF ready to approve World Mixed Championship

At the World Curling Federation’s big
meeting in Reno later this month month (that’s right . . . Reno), it’s expected
to put in place a World Mixed Championship.

That may come as a surprise, seeing as how
the big push of late has been towards Mixed Doubles.

The WCF will find out in
the near future whether that discipline will make it into the Olympics.

But there hasn’t been much talk about a
regular, four-person-team mixed championship.

The Canadian Mixed has been around since
1964 when it was first held at the Royal Canadian Curling Club in Toronto.
While it’s always a fun and well-played affair, I’ve always thought it more as
a secondary event. After all, there’s no competitive mixed events anywhere;
mixed is usually more about the social side of curling. When playdown time
comes, the best teams are usually comprised of the best men and women players
who split from their regular teams to join up. Some of the best of the best have played in the Canadian Mixed, from Ed Werenich and Russ Howard to Cheryl Bernard and Alison Goring. But it was never their prime focus.

Now with a world championship on the line,
I wonder if that will change? Will it grow in stature?

In tennis, there are mixed specialists and
doubles specialists, but still, some of the best players compete in both
singles and doubles.

Could the same hold true in curling? Could
you have a player compete for both the men’s and women’s events and then mixed? Or will it remain more of a specialist niche, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I think it’s a positive move and I hope
that eventually there’s mixed curling in the Olympics.